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Count the Maple Leafs in if the Calgary Flames get permission to stage an outdoor game at McMahon Stadium on New Year's Day.

"We're very interested," Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. told Sun Media in an e-mail last night. "If the National Hockey League invited us, we would jump at it. Any chance we have to bring the Leafs across Canada, we support."

The Leafs are one of the Flames' preferred opponents after reports this week that league officials visited McMahon, which is being enlarged from 35,600 seats to 45,000 for the Nov. 29 Grey Cup.

The Flames' game would be the second half of an outdoor doubleheader leading off with the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park, against an unknown opponent, believed to be the Washington Capitals. The NHL will announce its Winter Classic plans in mid-July and would be open to a second outdoor match to replace the all-star game, which is being shelved this season because of the Winter Olympic hockey tournament.

"We were contacted some time ago about the potential to be a participant and obviously, we'd be happy to do that. We think it would be a very positive event." Flames president Ken King told Sun Media.

Calgary and Toronto have both pushed for outdoor games since the runaway success of the Heritage Classic at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in 2003. But Toronto's plans stalled amid concerns of costs, first at renting the Rogers Centre and putting in ice, then trying it on a smaller scale at their own 20,000-seat BMO Field. In both instances, concerns about a mild spell of weather also spooked MLSEL.

But after the success of the Edmonton game, the Buffalo Sabres played host to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium in 2008, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings faced off at Wrigley Field this year, to massive U.S. TV ratings.

NO VENUE

"I just wish we had a large enough venue in Toronto," Peddie said. "Mind you, the Real Madrid soccer game (against Toronto FC at BMO on Aug. 7) is proving one can generate a large gate if the event is special."